Colorado, Colorado State may move Rocky Mountain Showdown from Denver to campus sites

Colorado and Colorado State may move future installments of their Rocky Mountain Showdown series from Denver to campus sites, according to a report from the Boulder Daily Camera.

The two sides have met 88 times total and on an annual basis since 1995 — with most of those recent meetings coming in Denver. But ADs on both sides have said the plan to move the 2023 and ’24 games to Boulder and Fort Collins.

“I’m confident it’s going to happen (at some point),” Colorado State AD Joe Parker told the paper. “I don’t have any doubt in my mind that it will. I’m patient. We’ve talked about it. I would expect that we’ll get something done pretty soon and have it on paper and be able to formally announce it.”

Though he’s not quoted in the story, CU AD Rick George has said he will not agree to play more Rocky Mountain Showdown games in Denver.

The Rocky Mountain Showdown reached a 10-year agreement to remain in Denver beginning in 2011, and the series will take a two-year break in 2021-22. And when it resumes after that, the smart money is on it begin in Boulder in 2023 and Fort Collins in ’24. That two-on, two-off model could be the norm moving forward as well.

“I think it would be a good rhythm for us, playing two years and taking two years off,” Parker said. “That gives us each a chance to be creative with our non-conference schedule and bring some teams into Colorado that we wouldn’t have room for if we were playing every year.”

The Buffaloes and Rams have not met in Boulder since 2009 and not in Fort Collins since 1996. Colorado won last year’s meeting 44-7 and holds a 64-22-2 all-time advantage.

This year’s installment is set for Friday night in Denver (8 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Networks).